Rotary printing-press.



H. F. BECHIVIAN.

ROTARY PRINTING PRESS. APPLICATION FILED APR. 17. 1915. RENEWED JUNE 30.1911.

mwm &. Patented @e t. 11, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

Q W u) 0 H. F. BECHMAN.

\ROTARY PRINTING PRESS. .APPLICATION FILED APR. 11, 1915. RENEWED JUNE 30.1917.

Patented fiept. 11, 191?.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

H. F. BECHMAN.

ROTARY PRINTING PRESS. APPLICATION FILED APR. 17. 1915. RENEWED JUNE 30. 1912.

1 Q Patented Sept. 11, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

QXH h Noam it as ,nn @F1@.

HENRY F. BECHMAN, OF BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO DUPLEX PRINTING PRESS COMPANY, OF BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

ROTARY PRINTING-PRESS.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented Sept. 11, 1917.

Application filed April 17, 1915, Serial No. 22,155. Renewed June 30, 1917. Serial No. 177,992.

To all whom it may concern:-

Be it known that I, HENRY F. BECHMAN,

Battle Creek, in the county of Calhoun and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Printing-Presses; and I hereby declare. that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

This invention is a novel improvement in rotary cylinder web printing presses of the kind I term staggered section presses and which can print either two narrow we s or one wide web without the employment of long plate cylinders.

The present invention is an improvement upon the type of press shown in my application Serial No. 719,967 filed September 12, 1912, and enables me to shorten the leads of the webs from the rolls to the printing mechanisms, and to practically locate both printing mechanisms in each set at about the same distance from thus make the press more compact lengthwise of the travel of the web. In the present invention the height of the press is increased as compared with my said application press, but itoccupies less floor space and on account of the arrangement of the mechanisms in each setall of the plate cylinders are easily accessible; and the superposing of one set or deck of mechanisms upon another does not involve any objectionable complication or crowding of mechanisms.

The invention in brief comprises a novel arrangement of printing or preferably perfecting mechanisms two in a set, the mechanisms in a set being adjacent each other with their cylinders in axial parallelism but one printing mechanism being arranged in a plane above the other printing mechanism, the mechanisms in a set being relatively so located that the inner ends of the cylinders in one printing mechanism slightly overlap the inner ends of the cylinders in the other printing mechanisms and this enables both printing mechanisms in a set to be supplied from one double-width roll of paper by simply splitting the web after it leaves the roll,

. folding the web roll, or slitter, and

and the halves of the split web can if desired be led to and through the related printing mechanisms without any lateral deflection thereof.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated conventionally one embodiment of the invention in a rotary cylinder press and will explain same with reference thereto.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a press having four similar sets of printing mechanisms arranged in two groups; mechanisms intermediate said groups; 'and guides whereby the printed webs may be directed to any folder.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic top plan view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic end elevation of Fig. -1 enlarged.

Fig. 4: is a detail.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a press containing two groups 01 prlnting mechanisms, with two sets of printing mechanisms in each group arranged one above the other. The two groups being shown as separated sutiiciently topermit folding mechanisms to be located therebetween.

Each set of printingmechanisms preferably comprises an upper printing mechanism A and a lower printing mechanism B. Each printing mechanism preferably comprises two plate cylinders 1, 1 and intermediate impression cylinders 2, 2 coacting with the plate cylinders. Ink is supplied to each plate cylinder by a system of inking rollers 3, to which ink is supplied from fountains 3 which may be of any suitable construction and are merely conventionally illustrated in the drawings. Each perfecting mechanism per 86 may be constructed substantially as described inmy Patent No. 979,919 and requires no detailed description herein.

When the press is intended to use singlepage-tubular plates, as described in my aforesaid patents, I prefer to-mount the outermost journals of the plate cylinders in annular bearings 1 see Fig. 4, which are slightly smaller in diameter than the cylinders and are connected tothe bearings of the adjacent impression cylinders by narrow journaled in bearings such as described; and

the driving gearing is arranged at the inner ends of such cylinders The plate, impression and inking cylinders in' mechanism A are provided With intermeshing gears 4 on their inner ends; and the cylinders in mechanism B are provided with intermeshing gears e 'on their inner ends, so: that all such cylinders may be rotated at the same peripheral speed. The cylinders in each set may be driven in the usual manner by means of trains of intermediate gears, not shown, from a drive shaft or motor which may be located and arranged to suit the preference of the press builder; such drive being well known is within the province of the press builder and requires no invention to install and therefore is not illustrated. All the sets of printing mechanisms A, B, may be connected to operate in unison, but any mechanism in any set may be put out of operation in the usual manner by slipping or declutching one of the intermediate gears connecting it with the drive, or in any other well known manner.

Each plate cylinder 1, 1 is preferably made long enough to'carry two tubular plates; so that each mechanism A and B, if using single-page-tubular-plates, will print four pages when fully plated. If the cylinders are made long enough to carry three, or more, page-plates each mechanism could print six, or more, pages.

In the press shown if the plate cylinders are but two pages long a four-page wide web could be printed by either set of mechanisms A, B; and such set could be supplied with Web either from two separate narrow web rolls or from one wide web roll; I prefer to use Wide rolls when both mechanisms in a set are operating as it lessens handling of webs and rolls.

By reason of the peculiar'laterally displaced but axially parallel arrangement of the superposed perfecting mechanisms A, B,-

in a set, as shown-in Figs. 2 and 3, when a web is supplied from a wide roll it is simply V necessary to split the web at the proper point and then one-half of it can be led direct to one perfecting mechanismin a set and the other half to the other perfecting mechanism in such set, and the printed webs may be directed to separate folders, or if de- In printing, the right hand edge of the web passing through one mechanism in a set alines with the left hand edge of the web passing through the other mechanism in such set. The invention is particularly useful for single page tubular plate presses such as shown in my Patents No. 867,230 dated October 1, 1907, and No. 979,919 dated December 27, 1910; and enables me, for example, to print a four page wide web on short cylinders, and yet obtain the effect of four-plate-Wide cylinders; and at the same time the plates can be readily slipped on and off any plate cylinder in any set from the outer end of such cylinder at the side of the press as in my aforesaid patent; and all the gearing is at the inner ends of the cylinders out of the Way of the pressman, while yet being readily accessible.

Further by using short cylinders a bearing is provided close to each end of the impression surfaces when a narrow web is run as well as when a wide web 15 run; and such short cylinders will not spring or jump even at very high speed.

The press illustrated in Fig. 1 has two sets of folding mechanisms arranged between the two groups of perfecting mechanisms: One

cated in the drawings. These folders should I be suitably geared as usual to the driving mechanisms of the press (not shown) so that they can be driven in synchronism with the related printing mechanisms. And any folder may be put out of operation, as by slipping or declutching an intermediate drive gear in the usual well known manner. It is not necessary herein to explain the detailed construction of these folders nor the drive therefor, nor the means for putting any one of them inor out of operation, as all these are well understood and will readily be supplied by the press designer or builder. 4

The folders F, F are in line with the several mechanisms A in the two groups, and the folders F, F 3 are in line with the several mechanisms B in the two groups. Above these folders may be arranged sets of web deflectors or angle bars hereinafter referred to by which the web from any printing mechanism may be directed to any folder as desired.

lVhen both mechanisms in a set are in use I prefer to suppl both from a single Web roll. For examp e a wide Web may be led passed over suitable guides as 5, into folder F.

The half Q02 of the web W may be led from roller 5 over guides 6 between the plate and impression cylinders in the mechanism B of said set; then over suitable guides as 6 to and over roller 5 into folder F. A

, web can be similarly directed to and through each set of printing mechanisms and thence t:o the related folder as indicated in the drawing. The arrangement of web guides ahd folding mechanisms will be readily understood from the drawings and by those skilled in the art and need not be described in detail herein. The webs may be led through the sets of printing mechanisms in the right hand group the same as in the left hand group, as indicated by similarl'etters of reference in the drawings.

If it is desired to associate the webs w,

w at folder F f. i. the web w after passing roller 5 may be turned over angle bars 7, 7 and brought into alinement with web 20 and passed over suitable guides and assembled with web 00 at roller f and passed therewith tothe folder F. If desired web e0 after passing roller 5 may be turned over angle bars 7 7 and brought into alinement with the web w and then passed over suitable guides to the roller f and there assembled with web to and led therewith to the folder F.

:1; Similarly a web coming from mechanism in the right hand group could be led direct to the folder F ,or could be turned over angle bars 8, 8 and led over suitable guides as indicated to folder F and can be assembled at roller 7" with the web coming from mechanism B.

The web from mechanism B in the right hand group could be led directly to the folder F or could be turned over angle bars 8, 8* and led to folder F being assembled at the roller f with the web from mechanism A. It will be obvious that by means of suitable guides 9, (as indicated in Fig. 1,) the web coming from the left'hand group could be directed to either folder F or F or the webs from the right hand group could be directed to either folder F or F as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The press shown practically has two similar horizontal decks of printing mechanism each deck containing two sets of mechanisms one at each side of the folding mechanism;

and I prefer to duplicate the sets of angle bars, or provide a set of angle bars for each deck, as indicated'in Fig. 1 of the drawings. It is not necessary however to duplicate the sets of folders, as additional printing decks are simply employed to give increased page capacity to the press. The page capacity of the press shown in the drawings could be ,increased either by lengthening the cylinders if desired, or by employing one or more additional decks of printing mechanisms; or by doing both.

The number and arrangement of web guides employed and the number of folders and angle bars used in an actual machine depends upon whether or not it is desired to have such press capable of assembling part or all of the various webs at any one or more of a plurality of folders. I donot consider the invention restricted to any particular number or arrangement of folders, nor any particular number or arrangement of the angle bars or web guides whereby the webs may be directed to the folders.

In the press shown the webs printed by each mechanism A, B in a deck can be directed to a separate folder; and four separate papers can be delivered simultaneously; or such webs can be directedto any one of the folders; such a pressis capable of simultaneously producing four papers of equal size; or four papers of different sizes up to the maximum page capacity of the press. Or it can produce-a less number of papers of any desired size up to the maximum page capacity of the press. It is not necessary herein to explain in detail all the various kinds and sizes of papers which can be produced on a press such as illustrated in the drawings.

By reason of the peculiar laterally displaced arrangement of the two superposed printing mechanisms in each set, both halves of the split double width web can be printed without any lateral deflect-ion thereof prior to printing, just as if all the plates were mounted upon four page wide cylinders. And this press has all the advantages of the single-page tubular plate two-page wide press, with the capacity of a four-page wide press. The printing mechanisms occupy a minimum of floor space, and the press has all the desirable properties of stiffness of construction, convenience of operation, and ac cessibility of parts; and it also reduces the number of paper rolls employed to the minimum.

The press shown can produce any size paper from two to thirty-two pages by putting out of operation any printing mechanisms and folders not required, and using uarter width, or half-width, or full width, webs as required. \Vhen superposed decks are used it will be possible to print and perof printing mechanisms I do not consider the mvention restricted to any particular arrangement or number of folding mechanisms.

What I claim is:

1. In a printing press the combination of a main frame and two separate printing mechanisms therein arranged one above the other and relatively laterally. displaced and adapted to print two narrow webs or different portions of thesame web.-

2. In a printing press the combination of a main frame and a plurality of separate relatively laterally displaced printing mechanisms in said frame arranged in difierent horizontal planes and adapted to print different webs or portions of webs.

3. In a printing press the combination of a main frame and a plurality of separate relatively laterally displaced similar printing mechanisms the same vertical plane but in different horizontal planes and adapted to print different webs or portions of webs.

4. In a printing press the combination of a main frame and-a plurality of adjacent similar rotary printing mechanisms arranged therein one above and adjacent one end of the next lower printing mechanism.

5. In a printing press the combination of a main frame and a plurality of adjacent similar rotary printing mechanisms arranged therein in substantially axial parallelism and one above and adjacent to one end of the next lower printing mechanism. 6. In a printing press the combination of i a plurality of adjacent separate relatively staggered printing mechanisms arranged parallel but one above another within one main frame and adjacent to one end of the next lower printing mechanism.

7. In a printing press the combination of two adjacent separated relatively staggered printing mechanisms arranged par'allel within the'inain frame, one printing mechanism being arranged above the other and the inner ends of said printing mechanisms overlapping.

8. In a printing press the, combination of a plurality of adjacent separated relatively staggered printing mechanisms arranged parallel but one above another within one main frame, theinncr ends of the cylinders in adjacent superposed mechanisms OXGY- lappingu I 9. In a printing press the combination of a pair of separate relatively laterally displaced printing mechanisms arranged in the same frame and in different horizontal planes and adapted to print two narrow being adapted to operate upon split sections in said frame arranged innism in a set overlaps the inner side of the webs or different portions 'of" the same web; with means for fol-din'ggjwebs printed by such mechanisms. If i 10. In a printing pres's'j the combination of a plurality of printing mechanisms aranged in the same main frame and staggered in a vertical plane inrelation to each other, said mechanisms. being in different horizontal planes and adjacent mechanisms of the same web.

11. In a printing press the combination of two rotary printing mechanisms arranged adjacent and parallel but in different horizontal planes; with means for slitting a wide web and directing the halves of the web without lateral deflection to the respective printing mechanisms;

12. In a printing press the combinationi of a plurality of separated printing mecha-, nisms arranged in the same main frame and;- staggered in relation to each other in a vertical plane and occupying difierent horizon tal planes, with means for slitting a wide web and directing the halves of such web to the respective printing mechanisms.

13. In a printing press the combination of a plurality of adjacent separated relatively staggered printing mechanisms arranged with their cylinders axially parallel one printing mechanism being arranged above the other; with means for slitting a wide web and directing the halves of the web to the respective printing mechanisms.

"14. In a printing press the combination of a plurality of adjacent separated relatively staggered printing mechanisms arranged parallel within a main frame, one printing mechanism being arranged above the other and the inner ends of adjacent superposed printing mechanisms overlap ping; with means for slitting a wide web and directing the halves of the web without lateral deflection to the respective printing mechanisms.

15. I11 a printing press the combination of a plurality of superposed printing decks each deck comprising aplurality of sets of superposed printing mechanisms so arranged that the inner side of one mechanism in a set overlaps the inner side of the adjacent mechanism in a-set; and means for directing a web or part of a web through the printing mechanisms in each set.

16. In a printing press the combination of a plurality of superposed printing decks each deck comprising a plurality of sets of superposed printing mechanisms so arranged that the inner side of one mechaadjacent mechanisms in a set, and means for directing a web or part of a web through the printing mechanisms in each set; with means for folding the printed webs separately or together.

1 plates, and relatively so arranged that the inner side of one mechanism'in a set over laps the inner side of the adjacent mecha- -nisms in a set; with means for directing a web or part of a web through the printing mechanisms in each set.

18. In a printing press the combination of a plurality of superposed printing decks each deck comprising a plurality of sets of superposed printing mechanisms adapted to print from single page tubular plates,-

and relatively so arranged thatthe inner side of one mechanism in a set overlaps the inner side of the adjacent mechanisms in a set; with means for directing a web or part of a web through the printing mechanisms in each set, and means for folding the printed webs separately or together.

19. In a printing press the combination of two adjacent separated printing mechanisms so arranged that the inner .end of one mechanism overlaps the inner end of the adjacent mechanism, said mechanisms being arranged in different horizontal planes and the cylinders in said mechanisms being in axial parallelism; with folding mechanism and means for directing webs through the printing mechanisms to the folding mechanism. v

20. In a printing press the combination of two groups of printing mechanisms each comprising a plurality of separate and relatively laterally displaced rotary printingmechanisms arranged in axial parallelism but in different horizontal planes, each printing mechanism being arranged' adjacent one end of the next adjacent printing mechanism.

21. In a printing press the combination of two groups of printing mechanisms each comprising a plurality of separated and relatively laterally displaced rotary printing mechanisms arranged in axial parallelism but in different horizontal planes, each printing mechanism being arranged adjacent one end of the next adjacent printing mechanism. with folding mechanism and means for directing the printed webs to the folding mechanism.

22. In a printing press the combination of two groups of printing mechanisms each group comprising a plurality of separated relatively laterally displaced printing mechanisms arranged in axial parallelism and in different horizontal planes, each printing mechanism being arranged adjacent one end of the next adjacent printing mechanism, with means for folding the webs printed by such mechanisms.

23. In aprinting press the combination of two groups of printing mechanisms each group comprising a plurality of separated relatively laterally displaced printing mechanisms arranged in axialparallelism and in different horizontal planes, each printing mechanism being arranged adjacent one end of the next adjacent printing mechanism, with folders arranged intermediate the groups of printing mechanism, means for directing the webs through the printing mechanisms to the folders, and means for assembling the webs.

24. In a printing press the combination of two groups of printing mechanisms each comprising a plurality of separated and a relatively laterally displaced rotary printing mechanisms arranged in axial parallelism,

each printing mechanism being arranged adjacent one end of the next adjacent printing mechanism, with folding mechanism arranged intermediate the groups of printing mechanisms, and means for directing the printed webs to the folding mechanisms.

25. In a printing press the combination of two groups of printing mechanisms each comprising a plurality of separated and relatively laterally displaced rotary printing mechanisms arranged in axial parallelism each printing mechanism being arranged adjacent one end of the next adjacent printing mechanism, with a plurality of folding mechanisms arranged between the groups of printing mechanisms, means for directing the webs to and through the printing mechanisms, and means whereby the webs may be directed to any folding mechanism.

26. In a printing press the combination of two groups of printing mechanisms each comprising a plurality of separated and relatively laterally displaced rotary printing -mechanisms arranged in axial parallelism Witnesses:

IRVING K. SToNE, CHARLES A. GRAMns. 

